Name/Title
Travellers to USSR interviewsEntry/Object ID
SJ-1407Scope and Content
Gathering with Rami Aronzon, Jean & Andrew Balcombe, Carol & Andrew Bender, Zalman Deutsch, Nomi Roth Elbert, Sue & Sid Gordon, Miriam Laufer, Peretz Rodman, Dr. Yaacov Ro'i, Lessa Roskin, and Rae Ann Sharfman -- all travellers to meet refuseniks in the Soviet Union in the 1970s-1980s. Moderated by Joshua Reuben Tapper. Recorded at the home of Enid Wurtman in Jerusalem, Israel. Aronzon was sent by Lishkat Hakesher (Israel's Liaison Bureau, also known as Nativ) to Moscow and Leningrad over Passover 1970. A group of refuseniks was then discussing a plot to fill a Soviet airliner with Jews who wanted to emigrate, and hijack it to the West; they disagreed about whether to attempt it, and Aronzon conveyed their question back to the Lishka. Golda Meir responded not to do it. A smaller group famously attempted a scaled-down version of the plan at a Leningrad airport on June 15, 1970. Aronzon notes that the Lishka did not know the wide extent of the underground Jewish network in the USSR. The Balcombes visited refuseniks in Moscow twice, in 1978 and 1979. Jean was an activist with National Council for Soviet Jewry and with Conscience (the Inter-denominational Committee for Soviet Jewry). Andrew was a member of the World Presidium for Soviet Jewry, chairperson of National Council for Soviet Jewry, and activist with Conscience. The Benders were involved in the Soviet Jewry movement in Philadelphia, along with Lorna Adelman, Bernie & Lana Dishler, and Connie & Joe Smukler. Deutsch, along with the late Dr. David Appelbaum, was sent by the late Aryeh Kroll to visit refuseniks in Moscow, Leningrad and Odessa in 1983. He was active in resettling former refuseniks Yuli Edelstein and Yuli Kosharovsky in the Alon Shvut community. Roth Elbert was an activist in Los Angeles with the Women's Campaign for Soviet Jewry (known as the 35's) and in Israel. She is the wife of former Kiev refusenik Misha Elbert, and sister-in-law of prisoner of conscience Lev Elbert. The Gordons were co-chairs of Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry at the University of Pennsylvania, 1977-1979. Laufer was president of the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry at Brandeis University, 1978-79. She visited refuseniks in the USSR in April 1980. Rodman was sent together with Zvi Leverich (later Levran) to the USSR in spring 1979, while a graduate student at Brandeis University. Ro’i is a professor emeritus of Russian history at Tel Aviv University. He traveled to the USSR in summer 1979, officially to participate in an international congress of political scientists at Moscow State University, but in reality to meet refuseniks in Moscow, Kiev, and Leningrad. Sharfman co-founded Detroit Action Committee for Soviet Jewry.Collection
Soviet Jewry Movement Oral History ProjectLexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Oral historiesArchive Details
Creator
Aronzon, Rami, Balcombe, Andrew, 1942, Balcombe, Jean, 1944-, Bender, Arnold Russell, Bender, Carol Zeitlin, Deutsch, Zalman, Elbert, Nomi Roth, Gordon, Sid, 1957-, Gordon, Sue, 1958-, Laufer, Miriam Hanna, Rodman, Peretz, Ro'i, Yaacov, Roskin, Lessa, Sharfman, RaeDate(s) of Creation
Nov 6, 2017Archive Size/Extent
2 hrs. 30 min.Primary Language
EnglishArchive Items Details
Subjects
Jews, Soviet, Antisemitism, Emigration & immigration, Refuseniks, Jews -- PersecutionsLocation
* Untyped Location
Yeshiva University Archives (New York, N.Y.)Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Wurtman, Enid L., Tapper, Joshua Reuben, Lishkat Hakesher, Women's Campaign for Soviet Jewry, National Council for Soviet Jewry of the United Kingdom and Ireland, Conscience, the Interdenominational Committee for Soviet Jewry, World Presidium for Soviet Jewry, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Student Coalition for Soviet JewryCopyright
Copyright Details
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